Beer Terminology

Acidic: A sour or sharp flavor characteristic.Alcoholic: Warming effect of ethanol and higher alcohols.Aroma: The nose or smell of a beer, ranging from fruity to malty, flowery to spicy, and more.Astringent: A quality that produces a drying, puckering sensation of the gums and tongue.Bacterial: A flavor suggestive of mold or mustiness often due to spoilage.Balance: When a beer’s elements, including the bouquet and palate are in perfect proportionate agreement with one another.Bitter: A twinge or strong sensation noticeable at the back of the tongue.Body: The texture and weight of a beer as perceived in the mouth. A beer may have thin or full body.Bouquet: The nose or smell of a beer, ranging from fruity to malty, flowery to spicy, and more.Bright: A visual quality, describing a beer’s clarity or color.Cabbage-like: An aroma or flavor suggestive of cabbage often due to rotten wort.Clove-like: A spicy flavor suggestive of clove often due to wild yeast.Creamy: The texture and weight of a beer with good natural carbonation.Dank: An aroma suggestive of mold.Dry: A beer that finishes sharp in the mouth, not sweet.Ester: Complex flavor mix produced naturally in fermentation, ranging from fruity and spicy to flowery.Finish: The lingering aftertaste that remains in the mouth after swallowing a sip of beer.Fruity: A sweet aroma or flavor suggestive of bananas, apples, pears, citrus, strawberries, and more.Grainy: A flavor suggestive of raw grain or cereal.Hang: A long-lingering bitterness or harshness that remains in the mouth after swallowing a sip of beer.Hoppy: An aroma suggestive of hops.Hops: The herb added to fermenting beer or boiling wort to produce a bitter flavor and aroma.IBU (International Bitterness Units): A system that measures hop bitterness in beer.Light-Struck: A taste fault suggestive of skunk, usually caused by overexposure to light.Medicinal: A flavor or aroma suggestive of chemical, plastic, smoke, or cloves, usually resulting from wild yeast or sanitizer residue.Mouthfeel: The texture and weight of a beer as perceived in the mouth. A beer may have a thin or full mouthfeel.Musty: A stale or mildew aroma or flavor.Nose: See bouquet.Oxidized: A rotting or stale flavor, usually resulting from overexposure to air or high temperatures during aging.Palate: The complex taste or notes found in a beer, determined by well-proportioned hop, malt, and fruit.Phenolic: A flavor or aroma suggestive of medicine, plastic, smoke, or cloves, usually resulting from wild yeast or sanitizer residue.Salty: A flavor suggestive of table salt.Shelf life: The period of time a beer remains at peak drinkability.Skunky: A taste fault suggestive of skunk, usually caused by overexposure to light.Solvent-like: A flavor or aroma suggestive of acetone, usually caused by high temperatures of fermentation.Sour: An intense acidic or vinegary sensation along the sides of the tongue.Sulfur-like: An aroma or flavor suggestive of sulfur or rotten eggs, usually resulting from a sulfur compound in some yeast varieties.Sweet: A sugary taste quality noticeable at the tip of the tongue.Tangy: An intensely piercing impression along the sides of the tongue.Tart: An intensely sharp sensation along the sides of the tongue caused by acidic tastes.Umami: is one of the proposed five basic tastes sensed by specialized receptor cells present on the human tongue. (savory, essence, pungent, deliciousness, and meaty)Vinous: An aroma or flavor suggestive of wine.Winy: Having the rich, fruity essence of a fine wine.Yeasty: A flavor suggestive of yeast, usually resulting from beer sitting too long on sediment.

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